Elgin College students to see course tuition increase

Community college hikes charges per hour

January 30, 2013|By Jamie Greco, Special to the Tribune

Students at Elgin Community College — whose district also includes communities such as St. Charles — will see a rate increase this summer of $4 per credit hour, raising the fee from $105 to $109, according to ECC's vice president of business and finance, Sharon Konny.

"We're going through our annual budget process right now and we find that our expenses exceeded our revenue," she said. "We looked at our current offerings, current programs, current services which we offer, and in order for us to maintain the programs we have right now, continue to offer our services, we found that we needed to supplement our revenue with a tuition increase."

The rate increase is expected to generate from $750,000 to $800,000, which will target general college costs, such as credit classes, testing and tutoring, and funding the library, according to Konny. "It will go to support programs we offer so we can maintain the same level of service."

The ECC increase is the third hike in as many years. "We had an increase last fiscal year, $6 per credit hour. That tuition increase was targeted specifically toward the operations and maintenance of the new facilities on campus," said Konny, adding that a full-time student taking 30 credit hours will see an increase of $120 a year.

According to board member Robert McBride, ECC fulfills a number of needs for the local community, including the availability of certificate programs.

"Many people go into a community college for an associate's [degree] or to transfer to a four-year institution, but we've had a real bounce in the issuing of certificates. which means it gets people certified for jobs and gets them to work," he said. "That's a real plus of a community college."

McBride said 2012 saw approximately 1,100 students achieve associate's degrees and approximately 1,400 obtain certificates.

Despite the tuition hike, ECC's tuition is mid-range, according to Konny, who added that an ECC student saves about $18,000 over two years compared with attending a four-year institution for their entire college career.

"So, even though we've seen our tuition go up, compared to the four-year schools, we are a great place, a very affordable place to go for a very good education," she said.

"We have one of the best rates in the state," McBride added. "We're in very good standing in terms of being comparable to other colleges."